


Together, Forever, Against All Odds

by fandom_food_fire



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020) RPF
Genre: Alternate Ending, Aman standing up for kartik and himself instead of agreeing to marry Kusum, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Karman, Karman Fluff, Karman love, M/M, idk this is the closest my stupid brain will come to angst, is this angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:27:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25688065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_food_fire/pseuds/fandom_food_fire
Summary: Kartik wakes up in the Tripathi ‘Aangan’ after being knocked out by Shankar’s beatings. What he does not expect is Aman telling him to pack up because he wanted to just leave.This is an alternate ending where Aman does agree to marry Kusum, but that is actually a ruse. This is Aman standing up for love, for his love, and defying his family and their heteronormative beliefs.
Relationships: Aman Tripathi & Goggle Tripathi, Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 24
Kudos: 42





	Together, Forever, Against All Odds

**Author's Note:**

> I've read a lot of headcanons that the deleted scene of soft!Karman happens after Aman tells his family that he is ready to marry Kusum as long as they leave Kartik alone, so I thought what if it had ended differently? What if Aman was just fooling everyone and buying some time, and didn’t actually plan to be there for the wedding. So this is where Kartik and Aman leave quietly before the wedding day.
> 
> (All dialogues in Hindi are italicized, and their translations are in the brackets beside them)

###  Kartik's POV 

Kartik’s eyes flew open, but he couldn’t remember what had caused him to wake up, and honestly, even the dim lights of the _Aangan_ (courtyard) were making his head pound. He looked around and not finding anyone there, he was confused because he was sure he had heard someone scream, rather loudly. He decided to get up and get himself a glass of water to clear his fuzzy brain. Every part of his body ached and complained as he sat up, but he managed to ignore most of it. Pain, after all, was something he was used to, his old friend. He still had to close his eyes and sit back for a moment to stop seeing black spots that appeared in his vision.

“ _Kartik!_ ” he heard someone, no, his favourite voice in the whole world, whisper, and he almost involuntarily turned towards the stairs, from where the voice had come. Aman was running towards him. “ _Thank the fucking gods you are up,_ ” Aman continued in the same hushed voice as he hugged him, and Kartik wanted to just melt and hug him back, but fate was hardly that kind.

“Owww owww owwww!”

“Shit!” Aman pulled back, but let his hands still cupping his face. His eyes teared up a bit as he looked at Kartik's wounds and Kartik could practically see him breaking under all the guilt he was placing on himself.

“Aman. Aman look at me!” he said authoritatively and Aman had no choice but to let their eyes meet.

“None of this is your fault.”

“But-” he tried to say, his voice breaking.

“No buts. _Tu apne aap ko dosh nhi dega. Teri koi galti nhi hai,_ ” (You won’t blame yourself. None of this is your fault.) Karthik spoke with utmost sincerity, and that broke Aman's heart even more. He leant forward until their foreheads touched and let himself go for a moment. But only for a moment.

Aman closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had work to do, and his family would be coming down any minute now having noticed his absence. He did not pull back from Kartik, but used their proximity to speak in the lowest voice he could, “ _Kartik dhyan se sun, aur beech mein mat boliyo._ My family thinks I'm going to marry Kusum tomorrow. I am not. We will go to my room, pack whatever we can and will be out of this house before anyone wakes up tomorrow. Clear?” (Kartik, listen to me very carefully, and do not interrupt me.)

“But-”

It was Aman's turn to rebuke him now, “No buts!”

They heard footsteps coming down and pulled back abruptly. After the Sunaina and Champa had asked Kartik if he was okay or not (which was surprising not only to Kartik and Aman but also to Goggle and Keshav), and Shankar told the ‘good’ news to Kartik, Aman somehow managed to convince them to let Kartik sleep in his room, saying it was so that he could take care of Kartik. Sunaina had hurriedly agreed, clearly eager to get into Aman's good books again, to which Aman rolled his eyes, clearly not impressed. Even Shankar gave in after a while and that was how Kartik and Aman ended up in the latter's room. 

Kartik was rounding up everything and putting it into their to-go bags, while Aman sat on his desk, writing something. Kartik shot him a quizzical look every now and then. By the time he finished packing, which wasn’t until late into the night, Aman had apparently finished whatever he was writing, and was toying with the snow globe on his desk. 

The snow globe, Kartik had noticed when he had first entered the room, had a couple in the middle like most snow globes, but the difference was, here both the mini-figurines were actually men in tuxedos, and he had promptly fell in love with the beautiful piece. 

He sat on the bed beside Aman's chair, put a hand on his shoulder and quietly called his name. Aman looked up, quite startled. 

“Kartik? Oh, I was just- I was going to- I mean the packing-”

“I took care of that, love,” Kartik said in a soft voice, because Aman looked like he was a deer ready to bolt at any minute.

“You- oh! Sorry I was just- I mean I would- I just thought I’d leave them a note.” Aman said the last part so quietly that Kartik almost missed it. 

The weight of what Aman was leaving behind just to be with him was suddenly very heavy.  
“Aman, are you sure about all of this?” he asked, his own voice almost breaking.

Aman, who had been staring at his lap, unblinking, sharply turned his head and Kartik saw a steely glint of determination in his eyes. He, in that moment, knew Aman was bent on this and would never back down, even before he spoke the next words. “ _Haan Kartik_. If they can’t accept who I am, then they don’t deserve me. I want to be somewhere I'm at least accepted, not somewhere I am forced into a mold I don’t even fit in.” (Yes Kartik.)

“ _Of course! But tujhe pata hai na tu kya chhodh kar jar ha hai? Tujhe pata hai na ki jaisi bhi ho, yeh teri family hai, aur rahegi? Humesha sabko nhi milti._ ” (Of course! But you do know what you are leaving behind, right? You do know that however they are, in the end they are and will always remain your family, don’t you? Not everybody gets one.)

“ _Kartik, mujhe pata hai. Par aisi family ka kya faida jahan pyaar bhi conditional ho? Aur mujhe pata hai main kya chhodh kar ja rha hun, kitna pyaar chhodh kar jaa rha hun. Par mujhe yeh bhi pata ki main jahan jaa rha hun, wahan mujhe isse bhi zyaada pyaar milega, aur woh hi mere liye kaafi hai,_ ” (Kartik, I know all of that. But what use is such a family where even the love is conditional? And I know what I am leaving behind, how much love I am leaving behind. But I also know that where I am going, I will receive far more love, and that will be enough for me,) he cupped Kartik's face, who unconsciously snuggled into his hand, “ _Kartik, mere liye tum kaafi ho._ ” (Kartik, _you_ are enough for me.)

His heart skipped a beat for the love of his life, his baby strongest, and he pulled him into a hug, ignoring the stinging of the bruises. The ointment Aman had applied earlier seemed to be working. They both just stayed like that, not speaking anything, just Aman snuggling into Kartik's embrace. 

Despite all that he said, how strong he had pretended to be, Kartik thought Aman was almost about to cry. He didn’t. After all, Aman Tripathi was hardly known to show emotions on his face, and today had already been emotionally turbulent for both of them, more so for Aman. 

For the first time, Kartik was lost with his Aman. Kartik wanted him to know that he deserved everything, that his family was the one wrong here, that he deserved all the love in the world and then some more; but he didn’t know how. Kartik wears-his-heart-on-his-sleeve Singh did not know how to handle emotions and put them into words for the first time in his life. He hated it. So he just settled for holding Aman tight, one of his hands buried in his hair and the other rubbing small circles on his back, and hoped that Aman somehow understood what was in his heart like he often did.

After a while, Aman wiggled out of his embrace and they both share a small smile, knowing they both were running short on time and would have to leave right at that moment if they wanted to catch the 4:20 AM train to Delhi.

They quietly shut the door to Aman's room and turned only to be faced by Rajni standing outside her room with a glass of water, seemingly having just come up the stairs from the kitchen. They both just stood frozen to their spots, eyes wide as she stared at them for a moment. Finally, she gave them a curt nod and a tight smile before quietly entering her room. They sighed, looking at each other and made their way out of the house, thankfully without any more interruptions. 

It would be long before Sunaina would come to Aman's room with his morning tea at 7 AM, and by then, the boys hoped to be far from Allahabad, on the way to their home.

A gust of wind entered the room from the doors that had not quite closed all the way, and were left open a crack. The note left behind by Aman fluttered in the wind, but stayed put under the heavy snow globe.

****

>   
>  _Mummy, papa, I cannot, and will not, marry Kusum. I refuse to kill the part of me that makes me unique. I am not disappointed in you both, because I never had any expectations from you, I never expected that you will understand me, or will even try to accept my sexuality._
> 
> _I hope, with time, you realise what you have done, and had I accepted your terms, how many lives would’ve been destroyed. It is not just Kartik and I who would’ve had been heartbroken, but you were also setting up Kusum for a lifetime of sorrow with a man who could have never kept her happy. I also hope that you would realise how much hurt you have given to me, and not just in the past few days. I wished all through my childhood that I would be accepted wholeheartedly by you all, but somewhere I knew that would never happen. Thank you for confirming my doubts. I cannot bear to live here anymore, not when I know that I am not accepted, and my lover is treated like he is not even human. I hope, that you realise all of these, and that you will change, because the world surely has and you have got years of catching up to do. Also, if you had tried even once to know the boy I brought along, the boy I love, you would know how great a person he actually is, how selfless, how brave, how forgiving. You'd have realised why he charms everyone he meets (at least those who give him a chance), and how your only son fell in love with such a great human._
> 
> _I am not angry with you, or anyone in the family, because I had anticipated all of this. I understand where you are coming from, and what your beliefs are, even if I don’t agree with it. I'm sure you would also understand where I am coming from, and why I can’t live here or talk to any of you right now._
> 
> _I can’t promise anything, but I pray to god that I can find it in myself to forgive you all, and talk to you again. I am not quite as selfless as Kartik, you see._
> 
> _Goodbye_   
>  _~~Guddu~~ Aman _

**Author's Note:**

> How did you like it? I hope it was good enough Karman :)  
> I mean to keep it a one-shot only, unless my brain decides to cook up something interesting to add to it. 
> 
> P.S.- I love comments! ;)
> 
> P.P.S.- Drop suggestions if you have any! ^_^


End file.
